A shoe bomber blew himself up inside an important Shiite Mosques during Friday prayers, killing at least 13 people and wounding 28, as violence persisted in the capital despite a massive security operation aimed at restoring order. The imam of the Buratha mosque in northern Baghdad, a leading politician and deputy with the governing Shiite coalition who often spoke out against the late terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, blamed al-Qaeda in Iraq for the attack. The security operation in Baghdad has imposed a driving ban during Friday prayers to prevent suicide car bomb attacks, as well as a curfew. About 75,000 troops are in the streets of the capital. "They were targeting me for the second time and the prayers also," said the imam, Jalal Eddin al-Sagheer, in an interview with the Associated Press. ... http://www.usatoday.com

Slum-dwellers who make up a third of the world's urban population often live no better - if not worse - than rural people, a United Nations report says. Anna Tibaijuka, head of the UN Habitat agency, urged governments and donors to take more seriously the problems of at least a billion people. Worst hit is Sub-Saharan Africa where 72% of urban inhabitants live in slums rising to nearly 100% in some states. If no action is taken, the world's slum population could rise to 1.4bn by 2020. Habitat - the UN's human settlements programme - is hosting an Urban Forum in Vancouver next week on how to stem the crisis. Its report is billed as a ground-breaking survey of urban growth, making a clear distinction between slum and non-slum development for the first time in UN history. ...http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/5078654.stm

Maine, the closest U.S. state to migration routes for birds coming from Europe, has begun testing for avian flu as the United States steps up preparations for its possible spread to North America. Maine has modeled its plan after Alaska, where many expect the first U.S. case of bird flu to be detected, Mark Stadler, director of the wildlife division of Maine's Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, told Reuters in an interview.Stadler said wildlife biologists have started testing Arctic terns, common eiders and pigeon-sized black guillemots in the state's rugged and remote eastern islands, and that they soon plan to test Canada geese, ducks, loons and other birds."The testing will spread southward across the state over the summer," he said....http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060616/ts_nm/birdflu_maine_dc

The Army general investigating whether military personnel tried to cover up any part of the alleged massacre of up to two dozen Iraqi civilians in Haditha late last year has completed a voluminous report on the incident. Army Maj. Gen. Eldon A. Bargewell sent his report to Lt. Gen. Peter Chiarelli, the second-ranking commander in Iraq, U.S. military officials announced Friday. No information about his findings was provided. Chiarelli now has a number of options and no time limit for taking action, according to Lt. Col. Michelle Martin-Hing, Multi-National Corps-Iraq spokeswoman, who described the report as "voluminous." She said he can approve the findings; substitute or add his own findings; send the report back for more information; and make recommendations for action by higher-ranking military authorities. They will delay this until people have mostly forgotten about it, then announce it was an isolated incident only some lower ranks no General Officers at fault...http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2006-06-16-haditha_x.htm?csp=34

Nepal's government agreed on Friday to dissolve parliament and set up an interim administration including Maoist rebels after a day of top-level peace talks in the capital, the two sides said. Rebel chief Prachanda said the Maoists would also dissolve their parallel governments around the countryside. "We will dissolve the old parliament, we will dissolve our governments, this is the main spirit of the decision taken in today's meeting," Prachanda told reporters after nearly 10 hours of talks with Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala and top political party leaders. ...http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=2084707

A system that lets your computer "listen" to your television to create targeted web adverts has been designed and tested by researchers at Google. The "mass personalization" system can identify a programme from as little as five seconds of sound. It then presents related information or adverts in the web browser. Google researchers believe it could also be used to monitor audience size or create social networks around viewers watching the same show. "The system could keep up with users while they channel surf, presenting them with a real-time forum about a live political debate one minute and an ad-hoc chat room for a sporting event in the next," wrote Google researchers Michele Covell and Shumeet Baluja on the Google research blog. "All of this would be done without users ever having to type or to even know the name of the program or channel being viewed," they wrote....http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/5084870.stm